Pakistani journalist arrested over social media comments

Islamabad, June 30 (IANS) A Pakistani journalist was arrested in the city of Quetta earlier this week for allegedly writing against "national security institutions" on social media, the media reported.

Zafarullah Achakzai, who works for Qudrat, a Quetta-based daily, was taken into custody under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, and presented in a court of the judicial magistrate, according to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials.

The court remanded Achakzai in custody of the FIA for six days, reports Dawn news.

"Our entire neighbourhood was besieged by the security agency before arresting him," Niamat­ullah Achakzai, the detained journalist's father, said. 

Niamatullah is the editor-in-chief of daily Qudrat.

The FIA informed him on Thursday that Zafarullah Achakzai had been taken into custody under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.

The journalist's relatives told a joint meeting of the Balochistan Union of Journalists and other organisations that "personnel of a security agency" took Zafarullah Achakzai into custody in the early hours of Sunday morning after cordoning off his residence, Dawn news reported.

They said if there was any complaint against the journalist, the authorities should have raised the matter at a "proper forum".